Qualitative Data

An Introduction to Coding and Analysis

Carl Auerbach, Louise B. Silverstein

Publication Year: 2003

Qualitative Data is meant for the novice researcher who needs guidance on what specifically to do when faced with a sea of information. It takes readers through the qualitative research process, beginning with an examination of the basic philosophy of qualitative research, and ending with planning and carrying out a qualitative research study. It provides an explicit, step-by-step procedure that will take the researcher from the raw text of interview data through data analysis and theory construction to the creation of a publishable work.

The volume provides actual examples based on the authors' own work, including two published pieces in the appendix, so that readers can follow examples for each step of the process, from the project's inception to its finished product. The volume also includes an appendix explaining how to implement these data analysis procedures using NVIVO, a qualitative data analysis program.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright Page

Contents

Preface

The aim of this book is to teach you how to do qualitative re-search. It will take you through the qualitative research process, beginning with examining the basic philosophy of qualitative research and ending with planning and carrying out a qualitative research study...

Acknowledgments

Writing this book would have been impossible without the assistance of many people. We are grateful to our colleagues at Yeshiva University, Dr. Larry Siegel, Dr. Abraham Givner, and Dr. Irma Hilton for their administrative and personal support of this project in good times and bad...

Part I: GETTING INTO QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. Introducing Qualitative Hypothesis-Generating Research

RESEARCH BEGINS WITH CURIOSITY about the world. We assume that you are reading this book because you find a particular phenomenon interesting and want to understand it better. For example, you may have questions about trauma, or fathering, or divorce, or immigration, to list...

Part II. PLANNING YOUR FIRST RESEARCH STUDY

2. Designing Hypothesis-Generating Research

WE WILL NOW CONSIDER how the philosophical differences be-tween hypothesis-generating and hypothesis-testing research translate into research practice. We will contrast a standard hypothesis-testing design with the design of our Haitian Fathers Study. This study was part of our...

3. Qualitative and Quantitative Research as Complementary Strategies

AS YOU ARE DESIGNING AND CONDUCTING a qualitative research study, you may find that it feels very different than the quantitative re-search studies with which you are familiar. For some researchers this difference is so great that they judge qualitative research to be unscientific. In...

Part III. ANALYZING YOUR FIRST RESEARCH STUDY

4. Coding 1: The Basic Ideas

NOW THE FUN STARTS! We are going to show you how to develop grounded theory from the interview transcripts, using a procedure called coding. The term coding can be misleading; it suggests a routine mechanical process, whereas developing theory is anything but mechanical. However...

5. Coding 2: The Mechanics Phase 1: Making the Text Manageable

THE NEXT THREE CHAPTERS explain the mechanics of coding—the step-by-step process used to transform the raw text of your transcripts into a theoretical narrative. Our coding procedure has six steps, which are shown in Table 5.1. The six steps are organized into three phases that we have named:...

6. Coding 2: The Mechanics
Phase 2: Hearing What Was Said

IN THIS CHAPTER we will consider the second phase of data analysis, HEARING WHAT WAS SAID. In this phase you will gain more access to the subjective experience of the research participants, by organizing the relevant text into repeating ideas (Step 3) and the repeating ideas into themes (Step 4)...

7. Coding 2: The Mechanics
Phase 3: Developing Theory

IN THIS CHAPTER we will consider the third phase of data analysis, DEVELOPING THEORY. In this phase you will organize the themes into abstract concepts called theoretical constructs (Step 5), and then use the theoretical constructs to construct a theoretical narrative (Step 6)...

8. Convincing Other People

YOU HAVE JUST USED our data analysis procedure to construct a theoretical narrative. How should you evaluate the work you have done? Qualitative and quantitative methodologies answer this question differently.
Quantitative methodology tries to exclude subjectivity, interpretation...

Part IV: DESIGNING AND ANALYZING YOUR NEXT RESEARCH STUDY

9. Designing Your Next Study Using Theoretical Sampling

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, we proposed that theory developed in the context of a specific sample could extend beyond that sample to apply to other sample populations. After you have completed your first research study, you will have to deal with the following question...

10. Analyzing Your Next Study Using Elaborative Coding

THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER EXPLAINED how to design your next study. This chapter will discuss how to analyze it. Herein we describe a procedure for analyzing data to develop your theory further, and illustrate the procedure with material from our research on Promise Keeper fathers...

Part V: FINAL THOUGHTS

11. The “Why” of Qualitative Research

UNTIL THIS POINT IN THE BOOK, we have focused on the mechanics of qualitative research, what one might call the “how” of qualitative research. But now, at the conclusion of the book, we want to broaden our perspective and present our own view about why it is important to do...

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

References

Index

About the Authors

CARL F. AUERBACH and LOUISE B. SILVERSTEIN are associate professors of psychology at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. They co-direct the Yeshiva Fatherhood Project. Both...

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